Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are being set up for a life of suffering, legal services say, as 'tough on crime' policy sweeps the country.
More state and territory governments are locking up children at increasing rates, and not listening to community or evidence about what is best for kids, according to National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services chair Karly Warner.
"These new laws that we're seeing infect the majority of state and territory governments ... are really dangerous," she told AAP.
"They're going to backfire and compound the disadvantage and trauma experienced by too many of our young people and communities."
The Northern Territory Government has lowered the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10, reformed bail legislation and reintroduced the use of spit hoods.
Queensland's "adult crime, adult time" policy, introduced in 2024, means children face the same maximum sentences as adults for a number of offences, including life sentences for murder, manslaughter and grievous bodily harm.
The state has also criminalised breach of bail for children.
Changes to bail legislation in NSW and Victoria have also attracted the concern of legal services and justice advocates.
Imprisoning children has never worked to curb crime, Ms Warner said, instead it can make young people more likely to become "trapped in an ongoing cycle" of incarceration.
In NSW and the ACT, Ms Warner said there's been a 270 per cent increase in the number of bail applications going to the Supreme Court, and an increase in demand in legal services to go with it.
"There's been no reciprocal increase in funding to try and cope with these dangerous laws that governments around the country are creating," she said.
"What that means is that not only are children impacted by the laws themselves but they're more likely to get trapped in the criminal justice system if they're unable to get the help they need.
"Ultimately what that means is that we've got children who are more traumatised, exposed to a life of crime and they're more likely to go on cycling into adult prisons and making communities more dangerous."
Ms Warner said it is not too late for governments to re-think youth justice laws in their jurisdictions.
"We have seen the tragic consequences of punitive, tough on crime politicking that drives mass incarceration of Aboriginal children with the death of Aboriginal teenagers in youth detention," she said.
"What is it going to take for government to realise that they are ruining children's lives and they are making communities more dangerous."
